Here are my top 10 Wimbledon happenings, in ascending order:
10. Put the whole thing under a roof: We expect it to rain in London in the summer (or any time), but this year's tournament was cursed by almost constant rain, making scheduling very difficult.
9. It doesn't get worse than this: I cringe every time I have to listen to Tennis Channel commentators. I try to avoid them; the world feed commentators can't pronounce the players' names, either, but at least they do a good job with everything else. I was grateful to have the world feed for most of the tournament, and during the semifinals, I was lucky--Wimbledon Radio was in perfect sync with my television, so I just slipped my iPad under my set. But I was forced to listen to ESPN for several of the late-week matches, and it was painful. And much of the nonsense was directed at Barbora Krejcikova, whom commentators treated as though she had just popped up out of the grass and no one had ever heard of her.
"She isn't familiar with this (Centre) court," said one, though Krejcikova had won two Wimbledon doubles titles. A little while later, the other commentator said, "She isn't familiar with this court," and I thought that my head might snap off. Even after Krejcikova won the singles title, Chris Evert and Chris Fowler treated the accomplishment as though it were a big novelty. Hello! Krejcikova won the French Open a few years ago and she was number 2 in the world in singles. She hasn't done that well this year, but she was ill, and also out for two months with a back injury.
Also, between Evert and Chris McKendry, Jasmine Paolini's name was mispronounced in so many ways, I almost needed a chart to track them. Toss is the expected sexism from Cliff Drysdale, and it was the usual major embarrassment.
8. The grass is greener on the red clay side: It's always tempting to believe that world number 1 Iga Swiatek is ready to compete seriously at Wimbledon, but--so far--she hasn't figured the grass out. This year, people were awaiting a round of 16 clash between Swiatek and her main nemesis, Alona Ostapenko, but that didn't happen. Instead, Yulia Putintseva upset Swiatek in the third round, which wasn't really a surprise; big hitters can get the best of Swiatek on fast courts, or--as Ostapenko once explained it--"I don't give her any time."
7. It was joyful, it was painful: Donna Vekic is a hard-working veteran who has had injury (and surgery) issues that have plagued her for some time, and have kept her from meeting her potential. She recently came close to retiring from the tour. However, at this Wimbledon, Vekic finally got the attention that she deserved, getting all the way to the semifinals. She lost to Jasmine Paolini in a thrill ride of a match that lasted almost three hours, and it must have broken her heart. But she has so much to be proud of, and it was a pleasure to see her shine in London.
6. Remember her name: And what a lovely name it is. Lulu Sun, who had to win three qualifying rounds before main draw play began, was the breakout star at this year's Wimbledon tournament. She made quite a splash when she upset Zheng Qinwen in the first round. She went on to also defeat Emma Raducanu, and she made it all the way to the quarterfinals, in which she was finally stopped by Donna Vekic. Sun's game was impressive, as was her calm and steady court demeanor. Stay tuned.
5. Diede the Great rolls on: Top seed Diede de Groot, who has won 23 major singles titles, won her 15th consecutive singles title in London when she defeated Aniek Van Koot 6-4, 6-4 in the final, giving her a total of six Wimbledon titles. de Groot and her partner, Jiske Griffioen lost the doubles final to top seeds Yui Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane. de Groot won both titles at the Australian Open and the French Open.
4. Why do it once when you can do it twice?: Hsieh Su-wei and Jan Zielinkski won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open. Seeded 7th at Wimbledon, they won that title, too, defeating Giuliana Olmos and Santiago Gonzales 6-4, 6-2 in the final. In addition to winning these two mixed doubles titles, Hsieh has also won seven major women's doubles titles, and she won three of those after taking a year and a half off. The 38-year-old, known to fans as the Casual Queen, turned pro 23 years ago, and--whether wearing a dragon head or hitting an overhead--she never fails to entertain.
3. How to win in doubles: Back in the day, some of us used to say that Mladenovic and Anybody comprised a winning doubles team. These days, it's Siniakova and Anybody; the Czech star won the French Open with Coco Gauff, and she just won Wimbledon with Taylor Townsend (both of whom are, of course, Somebodies). Siniakova and Townsend, who had already taken out the top seeds, Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens, defeated 2023 U.S. Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1).
During the match, one of the commentators was concerned about Siniakova's body language. Had she never watched Siniakova play?! During the course of a big match, the Czech player goes into nervous wreck mode on a regular basis, and it doesn't effect the score. It wasn't that long ago that Barbora Krejcikova, after she and Siniakova had won a major title, turned to her partner and said, "Thank you for playing with me for so long. It's very stressful, but I enjoy it."
Siniakova and Krejcikova won nine doubles titles and an Olympic gold medal (and will be playing together at the 2024 Olympics). Siniakova has already marked her place as one of the great doubles players, and I'm sure that there are more big trophies to come.
2. Italian delicacy: Fighting Italians progress in different ways. Jasmine Paolini, at the age of 28, decided to just go for it, and in 2024, she has the distinction of being the finalist at both the French Open and Wimbledon. The five-foot, four-inch high-spirited Paolini is a joy to watch as she speeds around the court and makes shots that sometimes seem impossible to execute. She was stopped by Barbora Krejcikova in the Wimbledon final, but expect to see more of her beautiful tennis in a big match soon.
1. A Czech pattern is always in style: Last year, it was Marketa Vondrousova. In 2011 and 2014, it was Petra Kvitova. In years past, it was Jana Novotna and Martina Navratilova (who was a Czech citizen for part of her career). Czechs like grass--even Czechs who appear to prefer other surfaces. I've always thought of Barbora Krejcikova as more of a hard court player, but then she went and won the French Open. And now she has demonstrated that what she really is is an all-surface champion.
Krejcikova was out for two months with a back injury and was also ill for a while. She hadn't been doing much of anything on the court, and she wasn't exactly on anyone's radar (well, she's always on mine). But, from the moment she stepped onto the Wimbledon grass, it was clear that Barbora was back in a big way. Krejcikova took out Danielle Collins, a red-hot Alona Ostapenko, and Wimbledon favorite (and 2022 champion) Elena Rybakina. She then held her nerve and defeated Jasmine Paolini in an entertaining final.
When Krejcikova won the French Open, she was overcome with emotion while talking about her history with the late Jana Novotna, her mentor and coach, who remains her inspiration. Winning Wimbledon--the title that eluded Novotna for five years--had to be the most emotionally charged accomplishment imaginable. Early on, Novotna told the young Krejcikova to win a major--and to make enough money to fly business class. I'd say that the Czech star has met those goals, and then some.
A former world number 2 in singles, Krejcikova has beaten Iga Swiatek in two finals, and is, of course, a huge star in doubles. Despite her success, the new champion continues to fly under the radar (see number 9), but she's probably okay with that. Her racket, as they say, does the talking, and it delivers even better speeches than Barbora herself.
